Transformers: Robots In Disguise

Transformers: Robots in Disguise #1
Story by John Barber and Art by Andrew Griffith

IF you’ve been following the Transformers comics, you know that the Autobots won the war and Cybertron was restored to life. Half of them stayed behind with Bumblebee and half went with Rodimus to search for log lost guardians….and then his ship exploded. Bumblebee believes Rodimus to be dead and the story opens with him waxing poetic about how Cybertron is angry with what they have all done to the planet. An Autobot arrives and as Bumblebee greets him, he is rudely cut off by another named Metalhawk (I would have cut that bitch). The organized military society reluctant leader Bumblebee has tried to put in place has flaws. Beings labeled as NAILS (non-affiliated indigenous life-forms) roam the dark alleyways of Cybertron and are regularly bullied it appears by the police Decepticons who are equipped with an inhibitor chip. In these kinds of scenarios, mutiny is afoot and such is the case with this tale. Bumblebee struggles with the responsibility he’ll eventually have to face: detonating an inhibitor chip and destroying a Decepticon which may lead to another all out war. This comic runs at the same time as Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye and deals with Rodimus and his crew.

Artwise, I think Griffith does a damn good job at having the Cybertronians convey emotions. That is pretty impressive since, you know, they’re robots! My favorite panels are when Ironside returns to the…I’m gonna call it a district for lack of a better word. He seems to have been out scouting and I just think it’s amazing to see him transform from a car thing to his awesome self. Good stuff. Colorist Josh Perez also makes the pages jump at you with their great use in color. It’s already tough to distinguish Bumblebee from other yellow tinged Autobots but thankfully, Perez does good at using different shades of yellow (shut up, I know they look different too).

In a nutshell I urge all of ye Transformers fans to pick this title up! Plus, I like how smooth the cover is :3